Family is stronger than iron
by JezebelKanda
Summary: Cho left the Wizarding world after the war. She married and had children. When her daughter gets her Hogwarts letter, she turns to Hermione-the-greatest-witch-of-her-age-Weasley and discovers a family secret that rocks her world.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Whewh. Boy am I tired. Here's my newest! I hope you like it!**

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Vernon Dursley's life had been meticulously planned. He had gone to a private school that bred strong willed men of business, married a clean and pretty wife who's ideals resembled his, had been a success in business, bought a home, and had a fine, strong willed son. Only the Potters weren't predicted. No the Potters were a definite stain on his pristine world. He could have spent his entire life happily not knowing about them. It was too bad they had had to invite Petunia's horrid sister to the wedding. And it was definitely too bad they had been landed with his nephew.

Even through all of that, he'd planned carefully his own son's life. Yes, Vernon had made sure his son would be able to grow up a normal boy. He spent all of his effort on trying to make Dudley forget what his disgusting cousin was. The lowest moment had been having to leave behind his home and work to go stay with two of those- those... people. Dudley, he was proud to say, seemed to be alright. He'd gone to university on a wrestling scholarship. Graduated well, found a job, bought a house and gotten married to a beautiful young lady with impeccable taste. Yes, Vernon had succeeded in giving his son peace of mind. Now, nineteen, almost twenty, years since they'd last heard from his nephew, the Dursleys were finally enjoying life as it was supposed to be enjoyed. That was exactly how Vernon wanted it. It was the way he'd planned it.

On a particularly fine Saturday in June, the elderly Dursley's were on their way to their son's home for their granddaughter's birthday. Violet-may and Jonathan were the most perfect children imaginable. Violet-may was a sweet little girl with Dudley's blue eyes and her mother's straight black hair. She was especially attached to her grandmother. Jonathan was as blond as his father had been but had inherited his mother's eyes. Both were very polite, gentle children who would rather be together than with anyone else. Two real angels in a world of monstrous brats.

As the two pulled up to the perfect modern building amongst the emerald green lawns and carefully shaped trees and flower bushes, they could see the smoke of what could be nothing else besides Dudley's backyard grill. (Dudley had become a fan of grilling his own burgers). A delicious scent wafted throughout the place and Vernon could hardly wait to sample tonight's dinner. His son and daughter-in-law were very good cooks.

" ." The two women greeted each other, it was their own little joke. Vernon pushed his way through the two women and felt a soft tackle from the side. It was young Jonathan, age nine, and pink faced from having just scrubbed it for dinner. His almond eyes smiled up at Vernon.

"Violet-May! Grandfather and Grandmother are here! How've you been grandpapa?" Vernon tussled the boy's hair and reached into his pocket.

"Swell, my dear boy. How did your maths test go?" Jonathan smiled, eager for what he was going to get.

"Perfect score! Thanks for helping me." He smiled even wider when he was handed half a hundred pounds. A dimple showed on his right cheek. Violet-may, who was carefully walking down the stairs in a frilly blue dress, smiled at her grandparents as they clapped for her.

"Do you like it?" she asked, twirling for them. "Mommy made it for me." Petunia crooned over her favorite grandchild, admiring her pretty dress. They passed the doorway to the sitting room, the kitchen, the den, and the garage before finally coming out into the golden sunshine of the garden.

Dudley greeted his parents as he flipped the perfect patties over. Time had changed the heavy-weight as had his job as a gym owner and his volunteer work as a counselor of at risk teens. His parents didn't approve of his volunteer activities, so they would not be discussed though Dudley and his family were very involved. His fat had bee replaced with wiry muscle and his once pink skin was lightly tanned. No longer did he look like a pig in a wig.

They sat down to the last few rays of sunshine, eating in the warm air under the fading light and the twinkling of blue and white lanterns. Just as they were tucking into the perfect white chocolate cake with blue chocolate frosting, there came a crash from the second story window that was Mrs. Dursley's office. Mrs. Dursley looked a little annoyed as she stood up.

"Enjoy your cake. I'm sure one of the clothes racks must've fallen over." She smiled at her little family, at the happy faces around the round, blue clothed table.

The house was dark, the windows shuttered because no one was inside. Without bothering to turn any lights on, Mrs. Dursley walked up the dark stairs and into her dimly lit work room. Stacks of fabric rolls in one corner, tiny cabinets overflowing with decorative items, lace, and buttons in another, clothes racks in a third and a desk with and owl perched on top in the fourth. None of the racks had fallen over, the window, though open hadn't knocked anything over. The- OWL? Mrs. Dursley put a hand over her heart and leaned against the door frame.

Warily, she neared the owl, took the letter it held in one foot and asked, "Can you do me the favor of taking a letter?" The owl hooted its consent and she took a sheet of pink parchment paper and wrote:

Dear Hermione,

How have you been? Well, I hope. I know it's been a while but I need your help. After the war, I kind of disappeared, I know. I've been living like a muggle, mostly. The thing is, I married a muggle and he doesn't know what I am. My daughter, Violet-may, received her Hogwarts letter just now and I'm so confused. I'm really proud but how am I supposed to tell my husband? Or my son? Or his family? I really need someone to help me. I thought the brightest witch of our year would be able to tell me.

Sincerely,

Cho Dursley

Cho Dursley, nee Chang, tied the letter to the barn owl's leg and carefully picked him up and took him to the front door. There she let him take off into the now dark sky. She returned to her family.

"What was it?" asked Petunia smiling at her daughter-in-law.

"Just a rack. It must've been unbalanced and toppled over." The Dursley's, but Cho, put the accident out of their minds and concentrated on their cake and conversation. A perfect end to a perfect day in the perfect lives of the Dursleys, just as Vernon had planned his whole life.

The great Harry Potter was contentedly eating his late dinner one Saturday, quietly talking to his redheaded wife about his children when his sister-figure Flooed in, out of breath, red in the face, and cackling like mad. The two Potters watched her uncertainly before Harry interrupted her crazed laugh.

"Er-Hermione? Are you okay?" Hermione nodded, one hand on her stomach and another holding a pink piece of parchment tightly.

"What-" she asked still laughing, " is your cousin's last name?" Harry was more confused then ever.

"Dudley's? It's Dursley. Why?" He wondered what she was going to do with that information. She burst out into even crazier fits of laughter and handed Ginny the parchment in her hand. Ginny took it, read and doubled over with laughter. "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on or are you going to laugh like mad all night?" By now, the two women were red in the face and were having trouble breathing.

Ginny, whose face matched her hair in color, handed her husband the letter. He read it through and looked up, his face contorted with confusion. "I'm afraid I don't understand." he said bluntly. Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to control her breathing.

"It means," she said, giggling madly, "that Cho Chang married your cousin and he thinks she all Muggle and her daughter (whose name is Violet-may) is a witch. She needs help telling them." The funny had worn off as she realized she was going to have to tell Cho her family wouldn't accept her or her daughter. Ginny stopped laughing. Despite the hysterics, they were concerned for their old schoolmate.

"Damn. Poor Cho." she said pityingly. Harry was stunned, his mouth opening and closing as if he were a fish out of water. The two women were watching him, waiting to follow his lead. He closed his mouth resolutely and stood up.

"I'll talk to them. I don't know what I'll say to them or how I'll convince them but I'll try." He was staring off into space, no doubt wondering if he'd have to return to Privet Drive and remembering all the worst memories. Ginny placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll come with you. Lily has been feeling a little lonely. Neither Albus or James wants to play with her, they say she's too little." Her tone left no room for debate and she had the same expression as when she cast an especially strong Bat-Bogey Hex. Hermione, not knowing what to say took a step up their stairs determinately. She would try her best to make that meeting go as well as possible.

"Let me chose your clothes, Ginny. It might go better if...well, someone with more experience does it." She scampered up the stairs with Ginny's glare on her. No, Harry was not looking forward to this visit. Or the memories.

On Monday morning, a small family could be seen walking down the main street of Little Hagerton. The oldest was a tall man with unruly black hair, startlingly green eyes, and tiny square glasses. His wife had long, dark red hair and a small pale face with a dusting of freckles across her nose. Their daughter had her mother's hair but her father's eyes and she chattered at her parents as they walked. They seemed like a lovely family, made lovelier by their well tailored, obviously expensive clothes. The family turned right on Sommerset Drive and looked up at one of the four McMansions that took its place among the green lawns.

A red sports car, the kind that any Hollywood brat might want, sat in the drive. A window in the second story was open and they could hear soft orchestra music. The man took a deep breath, as if he were going to dive under particularly dirty water and the woman squared her shoulders. Their daughter paid no attention and danced about them, humming along to the music.

They rang the doorbell and waited. There was laughter from the other side of the door and a blond man with a well defined body opened the door and stared at them open-mouthed. "Harry?" he whispered hoarsely.

The man with the green eyes, Harry Potter, otherwise known as the-boy-who-refused-to-die-like-a-normal-person, stuttered. "Dudley? Is that really you?" Shock kept them staring at each other for a second before Dudley opened the door enough for them to pass through. They were NOT the teens they had known each other as.

"Er- Dudley, this is my wife, Ginevra and my daughter Lily Luna." Ginny watched him intensely, as if she were waiting for him to step a single toe out of line. Lily Luna smiled up at him toothily and he managed a grimace. Dudley led them into an unoccupied sitting room. The two men sat down each studying the other carefully.

It seemed the strangest thing he'd ever been through, to Dudley, to be staring at his cousin, in his immaculate clothes and respectable looks. It seemed odder still to have him sitting on his sofa, in his clean cut Vernon-approved home, without him looking as uncomfortable and abandoned as he had in Privet Drive almost twenty years ago. His feelings were shared by Harry, who couldn't get used to the fat-less version of his cousin. It looked like he'd been hit with a shrinking spell. The uncomfortable way he was looking at Harry was still the same but the lack of fear on the strong facial structure was definitely not.

"Mummy? Why is the man staring at daddy so much?" Ginny stifled a giggle and Harry looked down at his daughter.

"The man my cousin, Dudley." Lily Luna smiled at Dudley and he was reminded a little of Violet-may when she had been that age. Dudley looked to the doorway and saw Jonathan standing there, obviously not wanting to interrupt. He beckoned him with one finger and he came to stand next to his father.

"This is my son, Jonathan Harrison Dursley." Harry gave a bit of a start. He searched Dudley's face. "Yeah, I named him after you, sort of. I couldn't name him Harry, my parents would have murdered me."There was a distinctly awkward pause during which Lily and Jonathan had shaken hands like the two polite children they were and had left the room to play in the playroom.

"I thought." said Harry carefully, "I thought you hated me as much as your parents." Dudley grinned.

"For a long time, I did. I hated tiny, thin Harry Potter with his broken glasses. I thought it was normal, to hate you. Mum and dad did." he gazed after the children, contemplating their quickly formed friendship.

"Er- big D?" Dudley cracked an abashed smile. His childhood nickname as embarrassing as the email address of a thirteen year old boy.

"No one's called me that in a long time."

"You're not the same guy anymore." Harry's quirk of expressing the obvious had never faded. Dudley was glad it hadn't; it proved to him that the man before him was indeed his cousin.

"Neither are you. I changed in university. Majored in business and psychology. I'm a mentor to at risk teens now. Wish we'd met one when we were kids." The last part was added as a soft side comment.

"I wasn't an at risk teen." said Harry, a little confused.

"But you could have been. If you didn't have that p- that school of yours. I was one too. Of a different sort." There was a gentle humming and steps coming down stairs. A tall woman with very long black hair strode into the room. Her almond eyes took in the two visitors and her husband. She looked shocked. Dudley had sat up very quickly.

"Er- Cho.. This is my cousin, Harry. Harry Potter, this is my wife, Cho." Nothing could have surprised Cho more. Ginny, relishing the moment with a sightly perverse sort of joy, smiled thinly.

"How've you been, Cho? Gone Muggle, I see."


	2. Chapter 2

Violet-may had come home from football to find her brother running around the house pretending to fly a broom and her father completely absorbed in what her mum was telling him. She'd been swooped up into her father's arms in a crushing hug.

"I'm so bloody proud of you!" He told her as he squeezed her even more. Violet-may struggled against her father's hold, losing all the air in her lungs and feeling like she was going to faint. When he put her down, she had to steady herself on the nearest sofa.

"That's always nice to hear. Why?" Her mum smiled at her.

"Oh, Violet, honey, you're a witch." Violet-may felt even more confused.

"That's not a very nice thing to say." She tucked her hair behind an earlobe, wondering what had gotten into her family. Most days, when she got home from football, her mum would send her straight to shower while her dad made lunch. Her younger brother was usually reading or practicing the kicks she'd taught him so their parents would agree to putting him in a team.

"Oh, no it's the best thing, your mum's a witch and so is your uncle's wife-"

"I don't have any uncles!" cried Violet-may, getting annoyed by the way they were acting. "And magic isn't real and granddad says only weirdos believe in junk like that!"

The grin on her parents faces faded and they sat down. Violet-may felt like whatever she was going to hear would be mental, so she sat down too. "You do have an uncle, honey. My only cousin, Harry. You've never heard of him because your grandparents hate him. We grew up together because his parents died when he was a baby. He went to the same school your mother went to." Violet-may looked at her mother. She'd alway heard her mother had gone to a private school in the north.

"It's a school for people who can do special things." her mother said softly. "It's a school for witches and wizards." Back to that again, were they. "Harry and I were schoolmates." Violet-may sighed. Making fun of her was rather rude.

"Prove it. If you're a witch prove it." she said. Her mother looked surprised. "See, my science teacher says everything is explained by science and logic, and maths. Magic can't..." she trailed off as her mother pulled a long, thin stick from her sleeve. She pointed it at the empty vase on the coffe table and a bright streak of light hit it. Where the vase had been sat a trembling hamster. Her father carefully picked it up and cradled it in one palm. Violet-may let her mouth hang open. Her mum was a witch.

They waited for her to say something for a couple of minutes before realizing that she was too deep in shock. "What we were trying to tell you," continued her mum, "was that your uncle and your aunt were classmates of mine. The school sent us your letter, a letter about you being a witch. We, that is..." Cho Dursley seemed abashed. "I thought it was time you knew."

"B-but aren't witches evil?" asked Violet-may, trying to absorb everything her mother had just told her. She was unusually quick and rarely felt as out of place as she did just then.

"Not really, no. Some are just like some muggles, regular people, are and others aren't. Witches is just what you call a girl who can do magic."

"But I can't do magic, mummy, I've never turned anyone into a toad." Cho pushed her long black hair behind her ear.

"Neither have I. Think. Didn't anything mysterious or strange ever happen when you were upset?" Violet-may thought and as she thought she began to frown. Goals she was sure she didn't make because she didn't touch the ball, ribbons changing color to match her clothes, bullies tripping or getting smacked by doors, foods she didn't like disappearing. It now made sense. "But I got accepted with Anne.."

What would she do without her best friend? She and Anne had been friends their whole lives. Anne Coby lived next door, went to the same primary as Violet-may, and was only two hours younger than her. Anne and Violet-may were never far from each other. Violet-may was shy with strangers and Anne's outgoing character balanced her out well.

"I know pumpkin." said her mother, coming to sit next to her. "But if you have it, you have to learn to control it. And it's a great place, I loved it." She stroked her daughter's hair.

"I loved the castle. My dorms, the Ravenclaw dorms, were in one of the towers. It was a beautiful place, with deep blue and bronze furnishings. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky outside. It was usually peaceful, a somewhat lonely place. There's so many great classes. My favorite was Transfiguration, turning one thing into another but I wasn't the best in the class. There's a sport we play, called Quidditch, on broomsticks high up in the air. There are seven players and I was on our house team, played the same position as your uncle..."

Violet-may listened to her mother's voice, a strange feeling growing in her chest. It was like a mix between wanting to vomit and being scared. her mother's voice and the things she said made her want to go to that magical place but the prospect of leaving her comfortable place in the normal world made her want to stay.

They sat there for hours, disregarding supper completely. Cho was stuck somewhere between reliving school memories and trying to inform her family of the second life she'd hid. It was very late when they went to bed, mostly excited about their visit to the Potter household.

The got up late the next day, thanking the world for being Sunday. Breakfast was a lazy affair, cereal with milk and blueberries. Jonathan was bursting with energy. He'd already washed up and changed for the visit. It was still hours away but he didn't mind. Cho and Dudley were equally excited though more calm. Only Violet-may wasn't sure she wanted to meet her long lost uncle. She had spent all night alternating between nightmares and wonderful dreams about the magical world she suddenly belonged to.

The family went about their Sunday, doing lawn upkeep, laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning house. Cho spent a good two hours in her workshop, making a mess of the skirt she'd been trying to work on. She'd bewitched her way into a muggle University, taken design classes, met Dudley, and done nothing but supply her family with nice clothes since. She was probably as nervous as any of her family members. She wasn't sure the magical wold was her home anymore. She'd left to try to escape the memories of the war, memories that had hit her with force when she'd walked into her sitting room.

The things they'd done, the things they'd seen had haunted her dreams and her every waking moment. As time went on, the pain had dulled to the point that she sometimes thought it had all been a horrible nightmare. But the memories would never disappear. It was why she'd left the Wizarding world. She didn't want to remember.

She'd known, when the children were born, that they would probably be magical. She couldn't hide forever. She'd decided, when after she'd written to Hermione in a panic, that she'd be a hermit. She'd have a minimum amount of contact with the world she'd left behind. Learning Dudley was Harry's cousin had wrecked her plan. She'd eventually have to come clean about her dark past. She was not looking forward to that.

But it had been a long time, and she had no family or friends in the Muggle world. It had been nice to talk to Ginny. They'd laughed over things they both understood, the spells they wished they could use on their increasingly moody eleven year-olds. She knew the Wealeys and their spouses and knew she would enjoy the visit, even if it hurt.

At twelve, the Dursley family was ready to go. They looked as perfectly respectable as any Dursley had ever been. Jonathan's blonde hair was combed, his white t shirt tucked into his khaki shorts, his shoes shined. Violet-may's frilly blue blouse was another of Cho's creations, her matching trainers looked brand new and her darkwash jeans were spotless. Cho and Dudley were as clean and well dressed as their children. They stood around their car, staring at it. Only Cho wasn't stuck on how they'd get to their destination.

"Er...darling? Cho?" Cho looked up at her family, confused as to why they weren't in the car yet. "How are we getting to Harry's?" Cho massaged the area between her brows.

"My brain's not working correctly. Let's go inside. The car won't do anything much for us." They trooped back into the house and Violet-may frowned. She wasn't liking this at all. "Erm...I guess I'll take you by side-along. Jonathan, come here and come here. Grabg my arm as tightly as you can." They watched as Jonathan followed Cho's instructions. The pretty woman took a deep breath and turned on the spot. Violet-may blinked and her mother and brother were gone.

"They disappeared!" she said, turning to look at her father with wide eyes.

"Damn..." There was a light pop and Cho reappeared.

"Mommy! How did you do that? Where's Jonathan?" Cho massaged the back of her neck.

"It's side-along apparition. I can take someone eles with me and appear some place else. Come on, before Jonathan wanders off. I'll take you, Dudley." Dudley gripped his wife's arm. "Hold on tighter or you'll fall away." Dudley idn't know what she meant and he didn't want to find out. His grip tightened.

Violet-may was left alone. Suddenly, she wondered what would happen if she decided to hide and not go to her uncles. She was just trying to think of where to hide when her mother reappeared. Violet-may took a deep breath and grabbed onto her mother.


End file.
